Preview: Cagliari vs Torino - prediction, team news, lineups

One point away from guaranteeing Serie A safety, Cagliari host mid-table Torino at Unipol Domus in their final home game of the season on Sunday.

Fabio Pisacane's men missed the chance to secure survival last time out, losing 2-0 to Udinese, while their visitors emerged as 2-1 victors against Sassuolo.

Match preview

Already out of sight of relegated Pisa and Hellas Verona, Cagliari only needed a positive result at home to Udinese to be absolutely certain of their top-tier status for 2026-27, but they fell short in their bid for precious points.

Second-half strikes from Adam Buksa and Idrissa Gueye condemned Cagliari to their 17th defeat of the campaign, and 18th-placed Cremonese's victory over Pisa means that Pisacane's side are not out of the woods just yet.

However, as the 16th-placed hosts are six points clear of Cremonese with just two games remaining, a draw on Sunday will be enough for survival, but even a defeat would suffice so long as their rivals fail to beat Udinese away from home.

As Cremonese must also face high-flying Como on the final day, a Cagliari side who have at least shown mild improvement over the past few weeks can feel confident of retaining their Serie A status, even if they must head to AC Milan in the final gameweek.

Despite last week's reverse to Udinese, Cagliari have collected a respectable 10 points from their last five top-flight games to steer clear of danger, having collected just eight points in their previous 10 games before the start of that sequence.

As Cagliari strive to confirm mathematical survival, visitors Torino can still sneak into the top half in the final two gameweeks, lying six points adrift of their hosts' recent conquerors Udinese in 10th spot.

However, with Sassuolo also five points clear of Roberto D'Aversa's men in 11th spot, Torino would need to take maximum points from their final two games against Cagliari and Juventus while hoping that their mid-table rivals capitulate in order to sneak into the top 10.

In reality, consolidating their current position is the main aim for Torino, who at least snapped a three-game winless sequence by coming from behind to dispatch Sassuolo in gameweek 36, thanks to goals from Giovanni Simeone and Marcus Pedersen.

The visitors' 59 goals conceded makes them the worst defensive team outside of the bottom two, though, and just one of their last nine Serie A away games has ended in victory - against 20th-placed Pisa.

Torino also succumbed to a 2-1 home loss against Cagliari when the sides clashed just after Christmas, their second defeat from their last three matches against Sunday's hosts, who also prevailed 3-2 in this exact fixture in 2024-25.

Cagliari Serie A form:

Torino Serie A form:

Team News

Cautioned for the fifth time in the 2025-26 Serie A season against Udinese, Cagliari centre-back Ze Pedro serves a one-match ban this weekend, so ex-Everton defender Yerry Mina should be drafted into the back three.

ACL victims Mattia Felici, Riyad Idrissi and Mateusz Wieteska remain on the long road to recovery, while Joseph Liteta (hamstring), Gennaro Borrelli (muscle) and Leonardo Pavoletti (knee) are also out of contention.

However, experienced striker Andrea Belotti has recently returned from a cruciate ligament tear of his own, and the ex-Torino striker reunites with the club he scored a stellar 113 goals for between 2015 and 2022.

From former Torino players to current Torino players, Lithuanian midfielder Gvidas Gineitis also crossed the yellow-card threshold in the win over Sassuolo so will watch on helplessly from the sidelines.

One-time Chelsea midfielder Cesare Casadei - who has netted five goals in the current Serie A season - is a leading contender to replace Gineitis.

Ardian Ismajli (hamstring), Tino Anjorin (hip) and Zakaria Aboukhlal (knee) make up a trio of injury-related absentees for the away side.

Cagliari possible starting lineup:

Caprile; Rodriguez, Mina, Dossena; Zappa, Gaetano, Folorunsho, Adopo, Obert; Mendy, Esposito

Torino possible starting lineup:

Paleari; Ebosse, Marianucci, Coco; Pedersen, Casadei, Prati, Obrador; Vlasic; Zapata, Simeone

We say: Cagliari 1-1 Torino

Cagliari need not go gung-ho for the win on Sunday given that only a point is required for survival, and Pisacane's side have our backing to obtain that point on home soil.

Torino come into the clash with just one loss from their last six games, but they have flattered to deceive on the road all season and have nothing to play for, so a low-key draw would suit Cagliari down to the ground.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.